Hello fellow BL'ers. I recently won a GAW that Scortarious Pipes was doing on Instagram. He's putting out some nice pipes at crazy low prices for what you get (IMHO).
Here's a brief review of the pipe he sent to me.
Firstly he is doing basic shapes (Billiard, Apple, Poker) with perhaps a focus on Pokers.
His "draw" as I would call it is his choice of stem material. All of his stems are made using very nice stem material patterns. I have seen both saddle and taper bit work and both styles show clean lines.
The pipe bowls are generally rusticated with a golden contrast stain on smooth shanks and rims.
(Apologies in advance for lackluster pics. My camera (phone) is acting up and lighting is spotty with a lot of cloud cover.)
Here is a pic of the pipe I received:
Nice lightweight poker with a saddle bit.
The stems are joined to the shank with a delrin insert.
The delrin is lightly chamfered on the outer circumference and more deeply chamfered on the inner circumference (funnel taper?). Supposedly the inner chamfer makes for a better / smoother smoke.
The stem widens just a hair at the bit. The bit has a subtle curve to it and the draught hole is funneled for about 1/2". The draught is nice and open and the pipe quite naturally and with ease passes the pipe cleaner test.
The fit and finish between shank and stem is flawless. No gaps, just nice and flush.
The only knock I had against the pipe was that the draught hole was just a wee bit high in the chamber... Maybe 2mm at most measured from dead center of chamber to bottom of hole (conical bit/chamber). I asked the maker about this and he said that this is the first chamber that he has drilled with this particular bit and that is why the hole was a touch high. He also appreciated the fact that I did not overlook this.
The bowl comes pre-coated which may bother some. I wold rather have un-coated bowls given a choice, although I do not choose a pipe based on this aspect.
Overall I am really impressed with this pipe. I doubt that the maker is turning much profit on his pipes at the price they are going for, though I expect perhaps that will change in the near future.
Lastly his email name and shipping location was identical? to another artisan that has been making pipes for a while now. Perhaps this maker has a family member getting into the business or perhaps this maker is trying his hand at "factory" production processes as a maker as other well known makers have done in the past year or two. Either way you may want to consider Scortarious if you're looking for a good artisan pipe on a budget.
Here's a brief review of the pipe he sent to me.
Firstly he is doing basic shapes (Billiard, Apple, Poker) with perhaps a focus on Pokers.
His "draw" as I would call it is his choice of stem material. All of his stems are made using very nice stem material patterns. I have seen both saddle and taper bit work and both styles show clean lines.
The pipe bowls are generally rusticated with a golden contrast stain on smooth shanks and rims.
(Apologies in advance for lackluster pics. My camera (phone) is acting up and lighting is spotty with a lot of cloud cover.)
Here is a pic of the pipe I received:
Nice lightweight poker with a saddle bit.
The stems are joined to the shank with a delrin insert.
The delrin is lightly chamfered on the outer circumference and more deeply chamfered on the inner circumference (funnel taper?). Supposedly the inner chamfer makes for a better / smoother smoke.
The stem widens just a hair at the bit. The bit has a subtle curve to it and the draught hole is funneled for about 1/2". The draught is nice and open and the pipe quite naturally and with ease passes the pipe cleaner test.
The fit and finish between shank and stem is flawless. No gaps, just nice and flush.
The only knock I had against the pipe was that the draught hole was just a wee bit high in the chamber... Maybe 2mm at most measured from dead center of chamber to bottom of hole (conical bit/chamber). I asked the maker about this and he said that this is the first chamber that he has drilled with this particular bit and that is why the hole was a touch high. He also appreciated the fact that I did not overlook this.
The bowl comes pre-coated which may bother some. I wold rather have un-coated bowls given a choice, although I do not choose a pipe based on this aspect.
Overall I am really impressed with this pipe. I doubt that the maker is turning much profit on his pipes at the price they are going for, though I expect perhaps that will change in the near future.
Lastly his email name and shipping location was identical? to another artisan that has been making pipes for a while now. Perhaps this maker has a family member getting into the business or perhaps this maker is trying his hand at "factory" production processes as a maker as other well known makers have done in the past year or two. Either way you may want to consider Scortarious if you're looking for a good artisan pipe on a budget.
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